Across the NFL, there are a handful of special teams players who are slated to make a significant difference on the roster in 2023.
Football is often expressed as a strict dichotomy, but it is not a perfect one. Usually, one team must lose for the other to win, but there's the occasional tie that shakes up divisional standings. The offense must triumph over the defense in order to score, yet these are not the only two phases of the game — and they're not the only positional units that can score points.
The oft-overlooked special teams unit is responsible for kickoffs, punts, returns and field goals, a group that is unparalleled in its unique roles and intense undertakings. Games have been won through returning for touchdowns, although more strenuously, it often comes down to a hit-or-miss kick by the placekicker. As clutch as the special teams unit can be, these players tend to fall in the draft and find refuge from roster cuts as special teamers. Few can appreciate the difference a precise punter makes in pinning opponents near the endzone, especially when this skill will become obsolete under the NFL's latest amendment to kick returns.
Still, special teams players can make a difference in the league, whether it's as an early-round kicker or as an undrafted kick returner. Here are three special teams players from across the NFL who have the potential to uplift their respective teams based on their specialized skill sets.
NFL special teams game-changers: 3. San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody
Despite their importance, placekickers remain seventh-round afterthoughts in most drafts. Not in 2023, when the San Francisco 49ers spent their third-round pick on Michigan product Jake Moody. Drafted at No. 99, Moody became only the second kicker in the past 15 NFL Drafts to be selected within the top 100 picks.
Although unorthodox, the 49ers did address one of their most significant roster concerns after the departure of 40-year-old kicker Robbie Gould in March. Gould provided San Francisco with reliability since 2017, and he remained among the NFL's best in 2022. According to Rotowire, Gould converted "84 percent of his field-goal attempts (27-for-32) across 17 regular-season games in 2022." To compensate for his loss, the 49ers traded with the Carolina Panthers to acquire Zane Gonzalez, a journeyman kicker who missed the entire 2022 season due to injury. Soon after, they drafted Moody.
At the college level, Moody wasn't far behind Gould in field goal conversion percentage in 2022. Moody converted 26 of 32 field goal attempts (81.25 percent) during the regular season. Moody set a Michigan record in the postseason by scoring 147 total points, besting Desmond Howard's 138-point season in 1991. That wasn't the only Michigan record Moody set: he also holds the school's record for most career points (355) and the longest field goal (59 yards). Understandably, he was the first to go in the draft, especially when other teams such as the New England Patriots were in need of a solid kicker.
Suppose Moody offers the same reliability as Gould. It may not stand out to every 49ers fan, but that is a remarkable level of consistency from any NFL kicker, let alone a rookie. Assuming that Moody wins the battle over Gonzalez in camp, the 49ers will at least have one less thing to worry about for several years. At best, Moody could be the difference in a third consecutive 49ers NFC Championship game.
NFL special teams game-changers: 2. Jake Camarda, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
While Jake Moody made school history at Michigan in 2022, Jake Camarda contributed to his alma mater by powering the team to a National Championship win in 2021. Camarda starred at Georgia for four seasons, proving that he possessed both power and precision with an average of 46.7 yards gained per punt from 2019 to 2021. Camarda received Third-team All-American, First-team All-SEC and SEC Special Teams Player of the Year honors in 2020, then made First-team All-SEC again during his 2021 championship season. It's understandable why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted him as early as the fourth round in the 2022 NFL Draft, and Camarda proved he was worth Pick No. 133 during his rookie NFL season.
Although the Bucs struggled in Tom Brady's final season, Camarda demonstrated his ability to keep Tampa Bay competitive in dire situations. Camarda averted catastrophe in Week 17 when he snapped up a botched punt, sprinted forward and managed to punt the ball down near the 10-yard line. The play didn't count, but it did showcase how a special teams play can thwart an offense's best efforts — and in this case, the Buccaneers did defeat the Carolina Panthers 30-24 and clinched the NFC South title.
Camarda downplayed his role in the Week 17 win, but it wasn't his only display of heroism last season. Camarda managed to break a franchise record in his first season with the Bucs, breaking the Bucs' "single-season gross punting average standard (48.8) by a margin of almost three yards," according to Buccaneers writer Scott Smith. Camarda set another team record in 2022 with 15 punts of 60-plus yards.
Bucs special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong directly addressed how and why Camarda is set to be an even bigger game-changer in 2023. Camarda is already skilled at pinning teams within the 10-yard line and keeping the ball suspended in the air on big kicks, but he's getting even better at directional punting that puts the ball outside the hashes.
"The biggest thing is that he really got good at turning the ball over and placing the ball outside the numbers," Armstrong explained. "It's hard for college punters to transfer to the NFL and directionally punt and be able to place the ball outside the numbers… I think he'll get better going both ways, in terms of what he has to work on. He'll get better at being able to go both right and left and I think he's a guy that can dominate."
If Camarda can finagle the right angle, he can make those high-powered punts even more impossible to return this season.
NFL special teams game-changers: 1. KaVontae Turpin, Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys haven't been able to make a significant dent in the postseason, but they are gradually building a varied roster that at least gives them a strong chance in 2023. Deuce Vaughn flashes a dynamism that could be useful on special teams, but he'll have to battle it out with KaVontae Turpin first.
Turpin averaged a speed of 17.27 mph on kick returns in 2022, which ranked second-fastest among players with at least 10 kick returns, according to NFL.com. A 52-yard punt return in Week 7 was 47+ return yards over expected, the highest of any non-touchdown punt return last season.
The former TCU standout bounced around through semi-professional and professional leagues in the United States and Europe before catching the eye of the Dallas Cowboys after the USFL's inaugural 2022 season. Named USFL league MVP in 2022, Turpin's talents immediately translated in the NFL, where he scored two touchdowns on two punt returns in a preseason game versus the Los Angeles Rams.
Turpin finished the 2022 NFL season with 811 return yards on 50 kicks or an average of 16.22 yards per return. Even with the NFL's latest developments to kick return rules, Turpin is a factor in the Cowboys' special teams game that opponents will be forced to consider.
